HOUSTON — (Nov. 30, 2017) – Leading local, regional and international experts will gather at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy Dec. 4 for a forum to share lessons they have learned in responding to extreme water challenges. The conversation will span immediate emergency response, longer-term planning strategies, and innovations and partnerships to help achieve water resiliency in the 21st century, according to event organizers.

Who: Stephen Costello, chief resilience officer and “flood czar” for the city of Houston, will give a flood resiliency update.

Michael Maher, senior program adviser for the Center for Energy Studies, and Dick Evans, co-chairman of the Accelerate H20 Advisory Committee and former chairman of Cullen Frost Bank, will give welcoming remarks. Richard Seline, executive director of Accelerate H20, will provide a summary of highlights from the private morning roundtable session.

The series of hurricanes and storms and subsequent flooding that affected the United States in 2017 highlight the need to invest prudently in water resiliency for the future, organizers said. This is a unique moment for Greater Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast to adopt innovative technologies, best practices and rebuilding strategies to ensure more resilient communities, businesses and civic sectors, they said. It can be a time to integrate successful approaches from around the world through academic, industry, government, foundation and entrepreneurial partnerships. There is also the potential to demonstrate leadership for Texas and other regions as Greater Houston works to develop robust and adaptive infrastructures and services capable of withstanding the impact of — and shortening the recovery from — future disruptive events, organizers said.

Founded in 1993, Rice University’s Baker Institute ranks among the top five university-affiliated think tanks in the world. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows, Rice University faculty scholars and staff, coupled with its outreach to the Rice student body through fellow-taught classes — including a public policy course — and student leadership and internship programs. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.